1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mounting system for panels for use in facade cladding on buildings and for invisible fastening of the panels on structural supports that are connected to a building wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
EP-A-0 761 904 describes a mounting system for panels for use in facade cladding on buildings. The mounting system comprises structural supports and U-shaped hooks which are connected, by means of a fastening element to that side of the panel facing a building wall. Angle structural supports are fastened to the building wall, the longer angle sides of these structural supports extending into the space between side walls of the hook and have punched openings. Bolts are pushed through holes in the side walls and through the punched openings, which bolts are fixed in their position in relation to the respective hook.
German Utility Model G 94 16 917.9 discloses a fastening system for compact panels made of one or more fiber layers which are hot-pressed together with one another and impregnated with resin and which are externally coated on at least one side with a decorative layer, for invisible mounting on a support body. The fastening system consists of a structural support which interconnects the compact panels and a wall or a support body, and milled cuts are made in those sides of the compact panels facing the support body. The cross sections of which milled cuts are covered by portions of the structural support. Each individual milled cut consists of two cross sections which are arranged on the compact panel in a mirror-inverted manner in relation to a vertical, run at an angle to the surface of the compact panel and enclose between them an angle of 50 to 100.degree.. The cross sections receive square-shaped portions of the structural support. An end-piece of the structural support is of V-shaped design and the portions form the end sections of the V-shape.
The core of compact panels has very great strength and can therefore absorb great forces without breaking or deforming. Compact panels or similar panels are used in particular for facade and wall cladding on account of their great weathering resistance and dimensional stability, care being taken that the fastening of the panels to a wall or a support body is invisible from the outside. According to the state of the art, invisible fastening is brought about by the panels being adhesively bonded or fastened by screws. In the case of screw connections, these are made directly to the panels, the dowels in general being fixed in the panels. Connection to the wall lying behind or to the support body located behind is carried out via, for example, clips.
According to the state of the art, it is also customary to fasten metal hooks in a hole on the rear side of the panels using screws or dowels. The panels are then suspended in metal rails fastened in vertical structural supports connected to the wall or to the building. The rails may also be arranged on adjustable facade anchors. On the upper edge, each of these panels has two adjustable fasteners and one fixed fastener which is designed as a so-called fixed point. The lower fasteners must be attached higher than the lower edge of the panel so as to allow changes in dimensions of the panel and its substructure. The fasteners are, in general, clamps which may, for example, be of semicircular design. In this system, mounting and demounting work is time-consuming because individual panels must in each case be suspended on a metal rail. Adjustment of the panels in the horizontal and the vertical direction requires laborious work on the rear side of the panel which has to be removed in order, for example, to reposition the metal rail in the vertical structural support or to realign facade anchors if these are used. Only after these adjustment operations is it possible for the panel to occupy its new position on the facade substructure.
The object of the invention is to provide a mounting system which makes possible rapid mounting of facade cladding panels, keeps the number of system components low and reduces the costs of facade cladding equipped with invisible fastening means.